Success!

Day one was an absolute success. I am so excited about the year and spending the next nine months with this group of students. We got lots accomplished, including the following:

1. Organization: We got all of our folders and notebooks labeled, situated in proper bins, and out of the kids' drawers. Now there is quite a bit more room in them for other things:-)

2. Classroom expectations: We had a great brainstorming discussion about what the kids expect from each other, what they expect from me, and what I expect from them during the year. I was just amazed at the incredible insight and high level thinking that took place in our discussion. I will list our expectations in a later post so they can be reinforced at home.

3. Hopes and Dreams: We read APPELEMONDO'S DREAM by Patricia Polacco and discussed the importance of dreams. We also talked about the need to continue dreaming even though we may encounter people who doubt what we aspire to do. The kids each made a colorful cloud listing their hopes and dreams on it. We will hang these in the classroom, so come on in and take a look. It was great fun to get to know even more about the kids after reading their dreams. In our room we have aspiring swimmers, Olympians, car builders, web designers, vets, java script learners, broadway stars and teachers. We have students who hope to eat healthier, become better spellers, more aggressive vegetable eaters, mathematicians, readers, and better friends. I just can't get over how unique and special this group of kids is.

4. Decision Dollars: The kids should have brought home a decision dollar sheet in their homework folder today. This is one of our primary behavior management tools for our room. Take a look at the sheet and ask your student questions about decision dollars. The decision dollar design sheet is due TOMORROW!

A friendly reminder to remember to send the student survey sheet in with your student as soon as possible. This sheet was in the yellow open house folder and had several questions to answer about your student.

I hope you will all celebrate a great first day with your student. They all commented on how quickly it flew by. We will see you all tomorrow. Congrats on a VERY successful day!